Chapter 2: Area C Number 47
Editor: GravityTales
"Hmph, what was he pulling at the card for!"
"Letting him retire is for his own good. What else can he do?"
"Right, right. At least he can see reality, he doesn't want to laze around in the club and grow old."
When Ye Qiu and Su Mucheng left, everyone else in the conference room suddenly recovered and began mocking him again. But Sun Xiang's expression was mixed. Instead of participating, he went to the manager's side. "I don't understand, how could he accept those conditions?"
"He had no other choice but to accept," the manager said.
"Why?"
"Because he can't pay the penalty fee."
"No… no way?" Sun Xiang was stunned. Ye Qiu had worked hard as a professional player for seven years now, and he was one of the best. Even if he had refused all business related matters, his salary shouldn't have been so low that he would be unable to pay the penalty fee.
"You weren't in that generation, so you wouldn't know. In the Alliance's early days, the pro players were nowhere near as impressive as now. Everyone was just barely making ends meet, and the majority had part-time jobs. At that time, the pro players that were fired ended up in terrible situations. Most of their youth had been used up on gaming, and they didn't have any other practical skills, so most of them fell into dire financial straits. Ye Qiu was a genius from that era and he was able to rely on his achievements to get to where he is today. But he had a lot of friends like that."
"So what you're saying is that most of his money was given to support those friends?" Sun Xiang's eyes widened.
"Right."
"Then if he needed the money, why would he refuse business activities?" Sun Xiang asked.
"No one knows the reason for that," the manager said.
"You don't have any guesses?" Sun Xiang asked.
"It might have something to do with his family," the manager said.
"Eh?"
"No one knows anything about his family. He also never talks about them. It's very strange, which is why I suspect it," the manager said.
"This person… has a lot of stories!" Sun Xiang clutched the Ever-Stay account card that Ye Qiu gave him. He knew that Ye Qiu had made this account to play the game long before the Professional Alliance had been created. Used all the way up until now, this card was one of Glory's oldest accounts.
"Okay, let's not talk about him anymore. The boss is busy today and can't come. But he gave me this bottle of aged red wine from his collection just for your welcoming," the manager said.
"Haha, thank you very much! With me, Excellent Era will shine once again!"
…
Ye Qiu left.
Su Mucheng stood in front of the club's entrance, watching as Ye Qiu disappeared into the distance. He repeatedly turned around to wave his hand. Tears had already begun streaming down Su Mucheng's cheeks long ago.
Without saying too much, Ye Qiu said a total of eight words. "I'll rest for a year, and then return."
Su Mucheng didn't say a single word. She only nodded her head again and again. She was no longer that innocent young girl of long ago, and had the bravery to assume many responsibilities on her own.
Snowflakes floated in the air; this winter was very cold.
…
It's snowing?
When Ye Qiu left the club, he didn't have a next step in mind. Having grown accustomed to a lifestyle for so many years, he wasn't used to sudden changes. He simply wanted to walk along like this, walk until his thoughts cleared.
Who knew that the weather wouldn't give him this opportunity? At this moment, snow began to fall, heavier and heavier as time went on. The swirling snowflakes quickly dampened his shoulders, and ice gathered in his hair. He had to find shelter.
Ye Qiu looked around left and right and saw along the road an internet cafe, its lights shining brightly in the deep night, and he dashed towards it at once.
The internet cafe was very warm inside. Ye Qiu burst in and shook the snowflakes off of his body, then went up to the reception desk to ask for a computer.
"Area C, number 47." The young lady at the reception desk told him the position of the assigned computer. She held out the ID card he had used to open the computer to return to him, only to see that he had already left. The young lady didn't fuss over it, as this happened quite often. She silently put away the ID card, knowing that he would come back looking for it.
Area C number 47, Ye Qiu followed the signs searching. This internet cafe wasn't small; there were many computers here, and there was even a second floor. Area C… Ye Qiu saw the area number on a sign dangling from the ceiling. It looked like he didn't need to go up to the second floor.
Once he counted to number 47, Ye Qiu was startled. This station had already been taken by a woman. Moreover, she was playing Glory. She was currently in the Arena dueling, and her fierce movements caused the ponytail bunched up high on her head to sway back and forth.
From the side, seeing the Launcher she controlled onscreen, Ye Qiu's mind went blank. He almost thought that it was Su Mucheng sitting there.
But he quickly realized that it wasn't her. Su Mucheng was always gentle and serene. Even in an intense PK confrontation, she always maintained a smile. Speaking of her, Ye Qiu sometimes would watch her smiling as she caused her opponents to explode into pieces. When she then politely said sorry, he would always inexplicably shiver.
As for this woman, her appearance was also beautiful and gentle. But the vicious way in which she gnashed her teeth and devastated her keyboard made her physical appearance from top to bottom seem like one big scam.
"Her murderous spirit is too scary. But it's a pity…" Ye Qiu saw the screen clearly, and he could tell that this woman was about to fall into a terrible situation. As expected, the small opening that she had just revealed was immediately seized by her opponent as an opportunity. In a flurry of combo attacks, what little life she had remaining immediately drained all at once.
"DAMNIT!" Ye Qiu heard this woman roar in rage. She slammed the keyboard, directly shutting down the game.
Ye Qiu was currently wavering on whether or not he still wanted the computer station when the woman turned her head to glance at him. Furiously getting up, she asked the hesitating man, "Computer?"
Ye Qiu nodded his head.
"Then sit down!" As soon as she spoke, the woman had already left.
Ye Qiu shook his head at the impatience of ordinary gamers and finally sat down.
Chen Guo was depressed, extremely depressed. She had just dueled 52 times in the Arena, but she hadn't won a single match. She didn't want to believe this was real.
Chen Guo rubbed the "Chasing Haze" Parasol in her pocket. Her account wasn't bad - among ordinary players it would be considered quite strong. Her skill level wasn't low, either, as she had played Glory for a full five years. Her opponent's account wasn't even as good as hers. But she still couldn't defeat him a single time over 52 duels.
"He's a powerful expert," Chen Guo concluded, nodding to herself.
"Boss, you haven't logged out yet. Why is that person playing?" As Chen Guo walked, a voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts. She tilted her head and looked. At the neighboring computer, a frequent customer at the internet cafe was stretching out his neck looking at the computer at which she had just been sitting.
Not good! Chen Guo's heart dropped as she rushed back. Due to Glory's popularity, Glory login devices had become standard computer accessories that were indispensable for internet cafes. Account cards only needed to be inserted into the device, so in these sort of public places, everyone put away their cards after using them.
Every card only had one account. Lost cards could be reported, so stealing did not exist. But in these sort of public places, people would frequently forget to logout and end up having their money and equipment looted. Chen Guo had been extremely frustrated after 52 straight losses and wasn't paying attention. She hadn't properly logged out of the game, but switched to the desktop instead.
Chen Guo hurriedly ran up and sure enough, that guy really was playing on her account. Only it didn't look like he was stealing equipment, it looked like he was eagerly dueling in the Arena.
Chen Guo was just about to bellow in rage when a single large word popped up on the screen:
Glory!
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone